Background
Meda Mládková was born on September 8, 1919 within the premises of the Zákupy castle, where her father was working as a brewer.
Meda Mládková was born on September 8, 1919 within the premises of the Zákupy castle, where her father was working as a brewer.
Her husband was economist, governor of International Monetary Fund January Viktor Mládek (1911-1989). Having spent several years in exile, she returned to Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Her family later decided to move to Brandýs nad Labem.
In 1946 she moved to Switzerland to study Economics in Geneva, where she earned her Phd.
Together with other exiles from Czechoslovakia she published a magazine called Současnost (Present Time). By February 1948 she decided not to return to Czechoslovakia – and to Paris, where she studied Art History at the Sorbonne and at L"Ecole du Louvre between 1955 – 1960.
In Paris she founded the first Czechoslovak exile publishing company called Edition Sokolova. One of its first published titles was a volume of verse by Ivan Blatný, and the writings of Ferdinand Peroutka.
During her time in Paris, she became acquainted with January Viktor Mládek, an emigrant, who in 1945 became one of the first Governors of the International Monetary Fund. in 1960.
During their time in Washington, the couple built an important art collection. Return to the Czechoslovakian Republic
Later, she founded the January and Meda Mládek Foundation and decided to reconstruct the historical premises of Sova"s Mills and use it as a location for the Museum Kampa. Museum Kampa became home to hers and her husband"s art collection, which she donated to the City of Prague.
The January and Meda Mládek Foundation has in its care a collection of Central European Modern art, and artworks by František Kupka and Otto Gutfreund.
The price of the collection is today virtually inestimable. lieutenant consists of 215 studies, drawings and paintings, and ranks alongside the world"s most comprehensive collections of its kind.